Horror Novella Excerpt: The Survivors by Ted Weber

The Survivors
by Ted Weber
May 5th, 2022
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Horror/ Novella
Publisher: Solstice Publishing
In a calamitous future, runaway climate change has made the planet nearly uninhabitable. Civilization has collapsed, and every day is a struggle. Lucy, a young mother of two, dreams of a better life by bringing back vanished knowledge. But the rest of her group is focused only on day-to-day survival—at any price. When a deadly hurricane destroys their home, Lucy’s group is forced on the road, where they must cope with hunger, searing temperatures, and vicious rivals. And their nightmare is just beginning…

TRIGGER WARNING:
This book contains scenes with horror, violence, and gore, and may not be suitable for all readers.

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Excerpt
A churning wall of water speeds toward us, many times higher than any waves I’ve seen before. Knees shaking, I grip my daughter and infant and back away.

Angelica grips her talisman and challenges the approaching waves. “Por favor, deténganse, Espíritus! Los adoraremos mejor!”

The tower shudders and shakes. Spray slaps up the windows, like the water’s trying to pull us down.

The window in front of Angelica cracks, jagged lines marching across its surface. It shatters inward. Shards of glass fly into the room, along with howling wind and spray strong enough to knock everyone off their feet—even Thal. Lengths of grass tear away from my woven vest and skirt.

Angelica screams, a high-pitched shriek that sounds like an animal being ripped apart.

About the Author
Website
Ted Weber has pursued writing since childhood, and learned filmmaking and screenwriting in college, along with physics and ecology. His first published novel was a near-future cyberpunk thriller titled Sleep State Interrupt (See Sharp Press). The first book of a trilogy, it was a finalist for the 2017 Compton Crook award for best first speculative fiction novel. The sequels, The Wrath of Leviathan and Zero-Day Rising, are also out. These were followed by Born in Salt, a character-oriented alternate history novel that pits an Illinois farm boy against a ruthless fascist government. His latest work, The Survivors (Solstice Publishing), is a post-apocalyptic horror novella in which a young mother is forced on the road and struggles to survive a living nightmare.

Mr. Weber is a member of Poets & Writers and the Maryland Writers Association, and has run numerous writing workshops. By day, Mr. Weber works as an ecologist, and has had a number of scientific papers and book chapters published. He lives in Annapolis, Maryland with his wife Karen. He enjoys traveling and has visited all seven continents.

For book samples, short stories, and more, visit https://www.tcweber.com/

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Sheep Comic Review: Prototype 2 Digital Comic book mini-series

Genre: Science-Fiction, Horror, Action/Adventure

I don’t play video games, but I freaking love video game commercials because they are like moving comic books. And not just any comic books; total chaos, bloodshed, and general bad-assery comics, which I am quite partial to. The game Prototype 2 comes out April 24 and to bridge the first game to this one Dan Jolley (lead writer for Prototype 2) is releasing 3 digitally exclusive two-part stories.

The protagonist from the first game is Alex Mercer, a shapeshifting badass who goes around killing people who have been infected by a virus called Blacklight that turns them into murdering monsters in Manhattan, NY. The infected area, called the red zone, is absolute chaos and filled with rampaging monsters. The yellow zone is a quarantine line made by the military but it's no picnic there either, and then there is the green zone where life is normal. The new game introduced a new protagonist named Sergeant James Heller who is bent on vengeance, including killing Alex Mercer.

PROTOTYPE 2 #1, #2: THE ANCHOR, PART 1, 2

14 pages Ages 16+

Writer: Dan Jolley

Artist: Paco Diaz

Colorist: Michael Atiyeh

The first set of comic is The Anchor part 1 and 2. We meet Alex one year after the Blacklight virus hit NY. He is traveling the world looking for good in humanity and himself. I knew nothing about the games before reading this, but it is everything I love about action comics with a dark anti-hero. Mercer has awesome abilities knows how to slice and dice, oh and he is really hot too. Anyway, both parts are only 14 pages, but you get a complete story in narration form from Alex and some vivid artwork. I was entertained and looking forward to the next installment.

PROTOTYPE 2 #3, #4: THE SURVIVORS PART 1, 2

14 pages Ages 16+

Writer: Dan Jolley

Artist: Chris Staggs

Colorist: Michael Atiyeh

The second set is The Survivors part 1 and 2. This one is from the POV of a NYC police detective trying to escape the red zone with two others so he can find his wife who was in the green zone. It gives you an idea of what atrocities the military and scientists involved in Blacklight are responsible for. These two are also told mostly in narration form like The Anchor. Again you get a good story but there is a different artist involved with this set. The artwork is just as good, but a little darker than The Anchor.

PROTOTYPE 2 #5, #6: THE LABYRINTH PART 1, 2

14 pages Ages 16+

Writer: Dan Jolley

Penciller: Victor Drujiniu

Inker: Jonas Trintade

Colorist: Michael Atiyeh

The last set is called The Labyrinth part 1 and 2 and this is where we meet the hero of Prototype 2, Sergeant James Heller, before things go very wrong in his life. There is no narration in this one, only dialogue. We learn a group called Blackwatch is doing some unorthodox recruiting and we learn something about Heller’s moral character. I really like this guy and you will be pulling for him. This set also has a new artist whose work very closely matched the work of the artist for The Survivors. However it has the same good writing as the other comics.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed these 6 comics even though I knew nothing about the game. I would like to see a full-length comic series about these characters in the future and suggest everyone check them out.

5 Sheep

SharonS (edited by BAK)